Restraining Orders

A restraining order (also called a “protective order”) is a court order that can protect someone from being physically or sexually abused, threatened, stalked, or harassed. The person getting the restraining order is called the “protected person.” The person the restraining order is against is the “restrained person.” Sometimes, restraining orders include other “protected persons” like family or household members of the protected person.

What does a restraining order do?

In general restraining orders can include:

Personal conduct ordersThese are orders to stop specific acts against everyone named in the restraining order as a “protected person.” Some of the things that the restrained person can be ordered to stop are:

Residence exclusion (“kick-out” or “move-out”) ordersThese are orders telling the restrained person to move out from where the protected person lives and to take only clothing and personal belongings until the court hearing. These orders can only be asked for in domestic violence or elder or dependent adult abuse restraining order cases.

For the person to be restrained, having a restraining order against him or her can have very serious consequences:

He or she will not be able to go to certain places or to do certain things.

He or she might have to move out of his or her home.

It may affect his or her ability to see his or her children.

He or she will generally not be able to own a gun. (And he or she will have to turn in, sell or store any guns they have now and not be able to buy a gun while the restraining order is in effect.)

It may affect his or her immigration status if he or she is trying to get a green card or a visa.

If the restrained person violates (breaks) the restraining order, he or she may go to jail, or pay a fine, or both.

You have a close relationship with that person (married or registered domestic partners, divorced, separated, dating or used to date, have a child together, or live together or used to live together — but more than roommates), or you are closely related (parent, child, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, in-law).

Civil Harassment Restraining OrderYou can ask for a civil harassment restraining order if you are being harassed, stalked, abused, or threatened by someone you are not as close to as is required under domestic violence cases, like a roommate, a neighbor, or more distant family members like cousins, aunts or uncles, or nieces or nephews.

You ask for a restraining order to protect an employee who has suffered stalking, serious harassment, violence, or a credible (real) threat of violence at the workplace.

An employee CANNOT ask for a workplace violence restraining order. If the employee wants to protect him or herself, he or she can ask for a civil harassment restraining order (or a domestic violence restraining order if the abuser is a partner/spouse or former partner/spouse or close family member).